Here are the round results with COCM matching for the Youth in Need round:
For context:
This round was made possible because 5 individuals donated $1000 each to crowdfund the necessary matching funds to apply as a community round, then Gitcoin matched that with more funds.
Huge thanks to:
@owocki
@deltajuliet
Theia Bunpoon
Mozhi Rinpoche
Reflections:
-Adding images is really time consuming and difficult. Heading to imgbb.com and copying URL to input markdown formatting of ![imagename]imageurl.png is a pain. Would be ideal if there was an “insert image” button somehow
But including the images seemed really important so people could know who are the kids who are supporting
-Did a google form for applications and then I manually added those projects onchain, which took way more time than expected. Would be ideal if we could have web2 login so people could make a profile and then we had gasless transactions for them creating their project in builder. We had grantees who had enough crypto knowledge to receive funds, but not enough to figure out gas and switching chains and such.
A few projects which applied directly that I could just approve within manager felt like a sigh of relief compared to manually making them myself.
-Having a checkbox or space for donors to share their email with the project they are donating so that project can send them updates could be really valuable for grantees
-I don’t think people really used the call links and scheduled calls that much to directly talk with the grantees and meet the communities they support. Perhaps when we ask grantees for their updates we’ll ask about that. Still wondering about best ways to form real long-term relationships between donors and grantees.
I really wish there was a way to have referrals/vouching/attestation of whether people see a project as ligit. I find myself relying on proxies like whether they were in previous rounds, if mutuals follow them on twitter, and such info which seems rather shallow when making the important decision of who will get funding.
Definitely took up lots of time to set up calls with every applicant, but also was inspiring and encouraging hearing about all the various great projects. A few projects involved education at schools around Africa for how to do regen agriculture which perhaps overlapped with the theme for this round and also ma earth.
Also very impressed with @MathildaDV 's thoughtful questions getting feedback from my experience when we had the pleasure to meet in Bangkok around Devcon
I plan to send out a google form for the grantees to share how they used the funds. Looking forward to hearing about this impact!
I also recently had the joy of returning to Ava’s House kids shelter by Chiang Mai Thailand (https://avahouse.org/) and seeing the awesome project Dang and his wife have made taking care of 25 kids, built a whole new building, repaired water tanks, and I’m so inspired by the work they do.
I plan to be back in January to visit New Hope Shelter in Ecuador (@newhopeshelter on x) and see how the community is doing including Damaris who is in process of being adopted
Incredibly glad to know this awesome ecosystem and mechanism for funding kids shelters and educational projects 